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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2000)
Listen to KAMU 90.9 FM at 1:57 p.m. for details on College Station Indepen dent School District removing three buses from service. • Check out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu. • Longhorns not alone In the Big 12 South race Aggies, Sooners should be worthy opponents to the vaunted, untested UT lineup Page 1 B Weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 103 and a low of 73. Jt ji September 5, 2000 Volume 107 ~ Issue 8 2 Sections Section A - 8 pages Section B - 6 pages i HKI k’i ^: W i *’ Motorcycle and Explorer collide, killing one KEVIN BURNS Im HaTTMJw that is part of the la man th anima Id another son. Rich dorsal fin that was'i tws situation.” cus pretty much inap; >ught the best thing to run and call for he!| aibinski said, der Kubinski stiffen from his armpit to ities said they believe h\ a shark, althoughii saminer planned toco larine biologists force 1 Kubinski said hisp ently swam in the sh s behind their home. is o join Brady Creel The Battalion An accident involving a motorcycle and a iport-utility vehicle occurred e.arly Sunday morning, killing one and leaving another in the intensive care unit. According to a release issued by the Col lege Station Police Department (CSPD). Jonathan Hatfield, a Baylor University eshman, and Heath Davis, a Texas A&M reshman electrical engineering major, ere riding a motorcycle southbound on Marion Pugh Drive when it collided with a Ford Explorer driven by Scott Barrow, a sophomore at Texas A&M. The release said Barrow was turning out of the driveway of Treehouse 2 Apart ments when his Explorer and the motor cycle collided. Davis and Hatfield were transported to College Station Medical Center. Hatfield was later pronounced dead by a doctor. Davis is currently in stable condition, but he remains in intensive care. He has un dergone several surgeries, said Ann Good man, associate director of student life. a The [rehabilitation] process is going to be pretty lengthy” — Ann Goodman associate director of student life ‘The [rehabilitation] process is going to be pretty lengthy,” Goodman said. The news release said Barrow fled from the scene on foot after the accident, but lat er agreed to meet with CSPD officers. Barrow was not available for comment. One of the first vehicles to arrive on the scene was a car on duty for Caring Aggies “R” Protecting Over Our Lives (CAR- POOL). The CARPOOL car had picked up a passenger at Melrose Apartments and was driving down Marion Pugh when the dri vers saw the accident, said Brooke Mau- ritzen, one of the two CARPOOL volun teers and a junior biology major. “It was kind of like-a big dream,” Mau- ritzen said. Mauritzen said they arrived between 30 seconds and a minute after the accident occurred. Mauritzen said her partner, Patrick Blocker, a senior management information See Accident on Page 6B. Campus activii ;ills He Zone or ^marketing STUART VILLANUEVA/Thh Battauon Unknown "chalkers" continue sidewalk chalk campaigns attacking the University for an anti-discrimination rule they believe to be too weak regarding the issue of sexual orientation. This sign read "Why did Bowen lie?" in front of the Academic Building. To the side, another sign read "Fight 4 Gay/Lesbian rights." Opponents to talk against 2000 bonfire Kerlees parents among speakers By Sommer Bunce The Battalion Key figures in the Bonfire controver sy are speaking to residence halls in sup- port of President Dr. Ray M. Bowen’s Bonfire decision. The Spence/Briggs Residence Hall Council will meet tonight with residents, student leaders and ad ministration to discuss Bonfire issues. At 8:30 p.m. in Corps Lounge A, Spence/Briggs residents will listen to speakers such as Tim and Janice Ker- lee, parents of Bonfire collapse victim Tim Kerlee Jr.; Head yell leader Ricky Wood and Rusty Thompson, assistant director of Student Programs for the Memorial Student Center. The Kerlees met with a group of 50 Underwood residents Sunday night, said Underwood graduate hall director Jnani- ka Wijayarante. They plan to meet with students from Krueger on Wednesday. The discussion will center on Texas A&M’s policy and the decision to place Aggie Bonfire on a two-year moratorium, said Spence/Briggs graduate hall director Tricia Schwery. Bonfire is a University is sue that students want — and need — to know more about, Schwery said. Keep the Fire Burning (KTFB), a student group seeking to build an off- campus bonfire to burn in late Novem- 3 Pc Bistro Se $ 99 98 Includes: Tablf & Two Chairs 13 Aggies to be honored at Silver Taps today By Maureen Kane The Battalia?! Thirteen Aggies will be honored Tuesday night at one of the largest Silver Taps ever held on the Texas A&M campus, and the Ag gie family will be there to remember them. Christy French, the Silver Taps subchair on Traditions Council and a junior psychol ogy major, said the first Silver Taps in the fall is usually the largest because it honors every Aggie who has died since April. “This is a final tribute to fallen Aggies,” French said. “It’s a way for families to see how special their son or daughter is to A&M.” The first Silver Taps honored Lawrence Sulliv an Ross, the president of Texas A&M College, in 1898. The only other non-student ever to be honored at a Silver Taps ceremo ny was Pinky Downs, class of 1906, who was “so influential and so loved by the stu dents,” according to French. Downs is also credited with creating the Gig ‘Em tradition. When the tradition of Silver Taps began, it was held immediately after a student‘s death, but as the student body continued to grow, the scheduling of the ceremony was changed. Since 1979, it has been held on the first Tuesday of each month, as needed. Throughout the day Silver Taps is held, flags are flown at half-staff and the Corps of Cadets wears “midnights” — a more formal uniform — in respect for the Ag gies being honored. “The day of Taps, we put a card on the Silver Taps Memorial at the base of the flag pole by the Academic Building that men tions the student’s name, major, class and hometown,” French said. “That way cam pus knows who is being honored. Then the card is given to the family after Silver Taps.” At 10 p.m., the lights in the area around the Academic Plaza are extinguished, and See Silver Taps on Page 6B. Dinette Se * Record-breaking heat boils down to fire hazards This is part two of a five-part water series about the ongoing drought and how its im pact can be felt locally and regionally. wiw.e/ rj^a By Rolando Garcia The Battalion Daytime temperatures are expected to remain in the three-digit range for the next few days, the National Weath er Service reports. In its statement covering much of East Texas and the Brazos Valley, the relational Weather Service reported a heat advisory would be in effect through Tuesday and predicted record- smashing temperatures in many areas. This short-term forecast is in keep ing with what has been an unusually hot summer throughout Texas, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist and a meteorology pro fessor at Texas A&M. ‘ ‘We have warm days in Texas every year at this time, but it takes two in gredients to make it really hot — sub sidence and lack of rain,” Nielsen- Gammon said. Subsidence is the downward move ment of air, which causes the atmosphere to warm and clouds to evaporate, allow ing more sunlight to reach the ground. “Sunlight passes through the atmos phere to heat up the earth and other sol- “We have warm days in Texas every year at this time, but it takes two ingredients to make it really hot — subsidence and lack of rain” — John Nielsen-Gammon Texas state climatologist and an A&M meteorology professor id objects on its surface, so the ground gets hot and heats up the air. Our envi ronment gets hot from the bottom up,” Nielsen-Gammon said. ‘The lack of rain, he added, dries the soil and heats the surface. “Since it takes energy to evaporate water, if there’s less water to be evap orated, more energy is available to heat up the ground,” Nielsen-Gammon said. The hot, dry summer has left cities throughout the state grappling with record temperatures. According to the National Weather Service, if forecasts through Thursday hold up, Austin will have 40 days of at least 100-degree heat this year, making it the city’s hottest summer since 1925. In Dallas, temperatures have hit triple digits for 42 days, and the tally is still climbing. The drought and scorching heat also have created an extreme fire hazard. Bart Humphreys, public information officer See Heat on Page 6B. her, has been the main opposition to Bowen’s decision. Once Bowen announced his deci sion, all students should have respect ed it, Tim Kerlee Sr. said. “I am violently opposed to the off- campus bonfire,” he said. “It’s a slap in the face of the Aggie spirit, and it disrespects the unity of that spirit. This gives a black eye to the Aggies.” Kerlee intends to share his opinion with other Southside residence halls. “The students ought to do what has been recommended,” he said. “Just be cause some are taking their bats off the field and vowing to play elsewhere doesn't mean we can't follow the guidelines the University gave.” Schwery and the Spence/Briggs Hall Council accepted Kerlee Sr., Wood and Thompson’s offer to speak during resi dent adviser training early this semester. “As a University official, I feel a re sponsibility to inform our students, to bring in the key players so students can form their own opinion to choose whether or not to participate [in KTFB’s off-campus bonfire proposal],” Schw ery said. “I want [the residents] to get a more realistic perspective of Bonfire.” See Speakers on Page 6B. Courtney Elizabeth Brymer (Sociology major) Joshua Davis Gray (Industrial Distribution major) Abigail Marie Keatts (Biological Systems Engineering major) Rodney P. Laskowski (Business Administration major) Jungki Min (Electrical Engineering grad student) Terry Ramon Nichols (Agriculture and Life Sciences major) James Howland Ratterree (Fisheries Science grad student) Amanda Clarice Rodriguez (Microbiology major)